The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) harshly penalized Penn State University Monday morning for its role in covering up the Jerry Sandusky child molestation acts that occurred from 1998-2011.Sandusky, 68, who was the former defensive coordinator under head coach Joe Paterno, was found guilty on 45 counts of child molestation on June 22.
The NCAA hit the football program with charges that will most likely destroy the program and a university that has long been considered one of the greatest sports programs and schools in the country.

Among sanctions the NCAA hit the institution with a $60 million fine, which is almost equivalent to Penn State’s proceeds from Big Ten bowl revenues from the four years, with the money going to an endowment to benefit the welfare of children.

Besides all those penalties, the university must also vacate all victories that occurred between 1998-2011, a total of 111, which strips Paterno of his title as the winningest [NA3] coach in college football history – now Grambling’s Eddie Robinson – and Division I-A – now Bobby Bowden.

What does eliminating wins prove?

Even though Paterno was absolutely wrong by covering up Sandusky’s unforgiveable actions, he is still beloved by many in State College, Penn. His successes will not be forgotten for a very long time, especially considering the fact that he has passed shortly after the scandal broke.

The NCAA’s actions to cripple future football teams for the next four years will likely have negative ramifications on the team and the school for decades to come.

Future recruits will balk at the thought of playing at a university where they will not have the chance to compete for conference and national championships for any period of time, let alone an entire career for incoming freshmen.

It took Southern Methodist University (SMU) 20 years to bounce back from the “Death Penalty” placed upon them by the NCAA in the 1980’s where football was banned for an entire year.
Future Penn State athletes and fans do not deserve that, considering they did nothing but support the school. While Sandusky was showering with boys in the locker room students were in class studying, athletes were working out, none of them contributed to it.

This is neither right nor fair to the once prestigious institution, and especially to the athletes and students who represent Penn State. Although only 45,000 students attend that school, 106,572 fill up Beaver stadium when it’s at capacity on game days and they are all suffering for the acts that less than 1 percent of the Penn State family committed. Not everyone should suffer for the acts of four.

The governing body of college athletics is supposed to be in charge of just that, college athletics. What Penn State was covering up is much deeper than if a school called recruits too many times, or if recruits are being paid by third parties. Children lost their innocence and will never get it back and criminal crimes were committed, not some secondary violation in a part of the NCAA handbook that no one can read due to the extreme fine print.

All the NCAA achieved on Monday was punishing those who had nothing to do with the scandal, let alone the cover-up. NCAA President Mark Emmert had already overstepped his boundaries by expediting this case past the actions normally taken to sanction a school. He went too far when he also ruined the lives of current and future football players, staff and alumni.

Throughout this scandal, the only thing supporters and students had to look forward to was football and now there will be nothing to look forward to, as we can almost guarantee every top player will want to transfer to a program that can compete for championships immediately, not in 2017.